BENGALESE
FOR all things related to Lonchura species, my reference book is Munias and Mannikins by Robin Restall. It was a birthday present for me in 1997 from my wife, Maria. The introduction to the Bengalese section of this classic work states that it is a domesticated variety of the striated munia, almost certainly the Chinese race (L. striata swinhoei). Other knowledgeable people are of a similar opinion.
London Zoo is reported to have imported two white Bengalese from Japan in October 1860 (date given by foreign bird expert Alfred F. Wiener). In addition to whites, two other forms were
